This is what college football was all about. Two teams, #10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Texas Longhorns, battled for 60 minutes in front of over 100,000 fans wearing mostly burnt orange. At one point, Texas stormed out to a 31-14 lead, but then Notre Dame fought back as the game eventually went into overtime. Eventually, Texas won 50-47 on a Tyrone Swoopes scamper into the back of the end zone in the second overtime.
Notre Dame and Texas score on first possession
Both sides started out strong. Notre Dame got the ball first and instantly moved down the length of the field. Tarean Folston bulldozed his way out of the backfield for a 54 yard run to get the Fighting Irish all the way down to Texas’ 24. After three more running plays, which gave ND 11 more yards, DeShone Kizer found Equanimeous St. Brown for the game's first touchdown of the night.
Texas responded in kind. The Longhorns dished out a heavy dose of run plays of their own. D’Onta Foreman gained 19 yards by himself over the course of two plays. Then, freshman quarterback, Shane Buechele completed his first pass on the first attempt of his college career -- a completion to John Burt for 13 yards. Following a gutsy 4th and 1 call, Buechele threw his first touchdown pass to Armanti Foreman to even up the score.
Longhorns’ two quarterback system pays dividends
Much like Notre Dame, Texas used a two-quarterback system, partly to help ease young Buechele into life as a college quarterback, and partly because it gave the Longhorns different looks.
Tyrone Swoopes is a much bigger quarterback, compared to the freshman. On his first touchdown drive of the night, he created a lot of movement for himself. The first six plays of this particular drive were all on the ground, with Swoops carrying the ball four times for a total of 31 yards; Foreman accrued 13 yards himself. Towards the latter stages of the drive, head coach Charlie Strong went back to Buechele. The Texas native ran in from the one yard line to give the Longhorns their first lead of the night.
Texas takes command of the game
Shane Buechele is going to be one of the country's best passing quarterbacks in the next couple of years. Tonight we saw glimpses of that. With the game tied at 14, Buechele threw a pass deep over the middle to Jerrod Heard. Heard, at the last possible second got tripped up and wound up at the one yard line.
It took three more attempts to break down the Notre Dame offense, but they did eventually thanks to Swoops quarterback sneak.
Buechele continued to show off his strong arm in the second half. After only two plays, Texas found the end zone once more. The freshman sensation
Notre Dame fights back to level things up
To take this game back into overtime, Notre Dame capitalized on a special teams play. The Irish blocked an extra point attempt which could have sealed victory right there. After the block, Shaun Crawford picked up the ball and ran it 97 yards for two points to level things at 37.
Swoops wins it in the second overtime
In the second overtime, Notre Dame was only able to get three points on their offensive possession, giving Texas a great opportunity to win the game.
Texas capitalized on their time on the ball, which eventually won the game. Once the Longhorns got to the 16 yard line, they went with the bigger Swoops, in a move that paid off big time. Swoops first run was impressive, getting 10 yards on a 3rd and one that moved Texas into prime striking distance.
On the next play, Swoops not only showed off his toughness, but he put his agility and vision on display as well. He danced around a couple of big Notre Dame offensive lineman before finding a gap to exploit. Swoops then had the instinct to dive for the end zone as he was being chased from behind.
Coming up
Next weekend is big for Notre Dame as they look to get their season back on track. They welcome in the Nevada Wolfpack to South Bend with kickoff scheduled for 3:30 PM EST.
Texas will now look to prove to the rest of the country that they are the real deal. The Longhorns welcome in UTEP for a 7:00 PM EST clash.